A Mad Mad World
by Lori Skylark
Summary: Something happens to Daine and then Numair...All tamora pierce characters!
1. Chapter one

Numair looked down at the little dragon, "Where is she?" He asked miffed, was Diane out when he just got back from a trip to his tower. Where could she be?   
Suddenly he noticed that the dragon was a sulky gray color, he picked her up, "I'm sorry I missed you too. Want to see the king?"  
The dragon trilled happily as they traipsed down the hall to the kings chambers. Numair and Skysong found the King in his chamber looking over some papers. "You're majesty." Said Numair bowing to his king.  
  
"Numair!?" Exclaimed Jonathan, "Where have you been? What took you so long that trip should have taken you two weeks you've been gone for an entire month. Daine is gone! She thought you were dead when you didn't sent word or even call to me."  
  
"Where did she go? I went to my tower. I was only going to my tower." Worry filled his eyes. "Did she go to the tower? Where is she?"  
  
Alanna entered the room, "Numair? You're back? You're alive thank the goddess! Did Diane find you?"  
  
"I didn't see her at all." Said Numair, "I have to go out again."  
  
"No," said the King kindly, "She'll only come back while you're away and want to go out and find you."  
  
Alanna stared at them, "Don't men think? Numair, you have a focus. You can find her."  
  
"Mithros, Mynoss, and Shakith! How stupid of me I'll go look for her now."  
  
****  
Meanwhile the girl they spoke of was not exactly a girl anymore. She was a mongrel dog in the village of pirates swoop. She didn't remember what she was. She was a dog and that was all she knew.  
It had happened a week ago she had shape shifted into a dog to try and get a sent of her love Numair. Suddenly horse hooves were descending on her head and instantly Daine no longer remembered she was a human.  
  
She was a small terrier all white except for her ears. After a week in the village she was tiered hungry and dirty. One day an important type man was walking into the village from the large stone den. With him were some pups one large one and two little ones that looked alike. They were on horses and they scared her she was running away when the large pup called to her softly offering her a piece of meat.  
  
She cowered and let him come to her and took the meat. She saw the large man disapproved and tried to call the pup back. But the pup ignored it's father. Daine went on her back to show that she was harmless.  
So she ended up in the stone den with the pups and pack leader. They cleaned her and finally she was fed after a week of starving.  
  
****  
A month after Daine found a home with the Cooper's Alanna came home sullen and hopeless. George met her when she came in he was about to tell her about their new addition when he saw her red and puffy eyes.  
  
"What's wrong lass?" he asked taking her in his arms.  
  
"Daine's missing George, we think she's dead. Numair's going crazy, they had to lock him up. He tried to breakout and we had to put him in a room where the walls absorb his magic. It's horrible. They're letting him out today, I just couldn't see him like that." She sobbed into George's arms.   
  
Just then a little white dog ran up and began to jump up and down trying to get George to pay attention to her! "Bark!"  
  
"Who's this?" Alanna asked sniffing.  
  
"Well we named her Reba, we found her in the village. Poor lass was starved."  
  
"Oh, she's a doll."  
  
****  
A week later that time in his room in the palace Numair was crying. Not just crying but sobbing. His love was gone and some how it was his fault. All his fault.   
The chamber door opened and the King entered. His eyes teared up at the sight of his friend. The mage had once done anything to keep his hair straight and make it behave, but now it hung loose and greasy around his head. His clothing were nothing like his silk cloths he usually wore, now it was only a simple black shirt, tunic and breeches.  
  
Numair looked up from his bed, oh go away, he thought as he threw a pillow at him.  
  
"Numair! Come on, you have to get out. Alanna and George invited you to Pirate's swoop. It's rude of you not to go."  
  
"Rude!? RUDE? I'm in mourning and they invite me to a place where we were together?"  
  
"You have to go I order you!"  
  
"Fine! I'll go now!" He shifted into a hawk and flew out the window.  
  
"Now why would he do something stupid like shape shift for nothing?" Jon muttered sorrowfully looking at the room where the missing Skysong used to sleep, where the dead Diane used to eat, and where the mad Numair once studied magic.  
****  
Days later a black hawk collapsed in the forest near the sea. A little dog found it and picked it up by a wing and dragged the limp bird back to her home.   
  
The little white dog was dragging the hawk into Pirate Swoop and into the stables when Thom saw it. "Reba!" he took the hawk from the little dog that yipped happily at the boy as they ran up the stairs to the observation tower.   
  
Panting Thom called to his mother, "Ma! Reba got another hurt animal!"  
  
Alanna rushed into the stairwell and took the hawk into her hands. "George!" She roared, scaring Thom with the fear in her voice.  
  
"What my dear?" George asked running in.  
  
"It's Numair and he's almost dead!" 


	2. Chapter two

A week later Onua, the king and the queen were at the swoop with Alanna and George in the room where Numair lay on a bed. They were wondering what they could do for their friend. "He misses Daine, we all do." Said Onua as tears rolled down her face. "I just wish we knew what happened. Where did she go?"  
  
The queen patted her on the shoulder. "We're trying to find out. But first we have to get Numair human again."  
  
Alanna sighed, "I've tried everything, Daine was the only one that got him out of it with her wild magic. It's up to him when he wakes." She looked a Jonathan, "Why did he shape shift? He could have just ridden to the swoop."  
  
The king shook his head, "He just shifted, on a whim when I told to come here."  
  
"That was mighty daft of him, it sucked all his health flying as a hawk." George commented petting Rebe.   
  
Suddenly Numair the hawk woke up and looked around confused, {where am I?} He thought and looked at the humans who were looking at him exitedly. A woman with fire red hair tried to come and pick him up, {Alanna} thought Numair, but he didn't want the humans to bother him he screached and swiped a talon at the woman.  
  
Allana jumped back her hand bleeding. Jonathan jumped up and with all his kingly power ordered numair to change. The hawk hissed at him swipping at him. "Numair change! Change gods damn you!"  
  
The black hawk screamed and began to fly, he tried to get out the window but Onua grabbed him. "No you don't!" As the hawk slashed at her and tried to bite her she pleaded, "Numair, please! Please change please be human again. Please."  
  
Numair saw the tears in her face and felt ashamed, he stopped fighting and Onua put him down. He began to change and soon he was a naked man on the floor. Reba the dog jumped on his lap and began to lick his face. Alanna put a black robe over Numair's sholders. The mage was crying and no human knew what they should do.  
  
"Reba!" George called to the dog.  
  
"It's okay," said the crying Numair holding the little dog in his arms. "Daine would have loved her." He got up slowly and tied the robe around himself. He looked at it. And suddenly his control vasished, "I a damned black robe! And I can't find one girl? What is the use? I'll never use magic again!" He tried to walk out the door but the others stopped him.  
  
"Numair!" Jonathan said pushing Numair into a chair. "Snap out of it!"  
  
"NO!" Numair snapped curling his knees to his chest he sat and stared out the window. "Leave me alone I'm human now. So go away."  
  
"Please Numair I know you miss Daine but you are not behaving well. Please just try and be normal." Alanna said.  
  
"Normal," spat the mage, "How can I be normal without the love of my life. Without my friend? Without my student?" He began to cry again. The other humans shook their heads and decided to leave him to himself.  
  
As they were leaving George looked back and saw that Reba had stayed with the Mage. George closed the door.   
  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter three

Alone in the room Numair looked down at the little dog that was licking his hand. The little dog looked up at him eyes full of happyness and her tail wagging wildly. "What a happy little dog you are. I guess nothing could ever happen to you to turn you into the sorry sight that I am."  
  
The dog only looked at him. Numair picked her up and she settled on his lap and fell asleep soon Numair followed into slumber land. He was dreaming about sleeping with Diane in his arms when the door to his room was swung open. Startled Numair awoke.  
  
"Numair!" it was Onua, "Cloud is here Thom found her in the forest!"  
  
Numair jumped out of his seat and rushed down the stairs the little white dog at his heels.   
  
In the court yard surounded by thick stone walls Alanna and the others were trying to get cloud under control.   
  
Numair ran into the yard with Reba and looked at Cloud. The pony was a poor sight. Her main was in tangles and her eyes would not focus. Her body was covered in mud, dust and blood in some spots. She would let no one touch her till she got a glimpse of the stork-man. She ran to him and began to nuzzle him.   
  
Numair pet the pony and cried into her mane. Cloud was glad to see the stork-man. It had been a long time since she and Diane had been seperated. Diane had flown to the tower insted of ride and after a while when the girl did not return the pony took matters in her own hooves. She broke out of the stables with the help of Skysong and had began to hunt for her mistress. But it was hard for the pony to get a scent of the girl since she had become a bird. Soon after hunting for so long Cloud had a feeling that the girl was gone, and soon she became mad. But suddenly seeing the stork-man she calmed down and was sane again. But she was not herself.  
  
The other humans looked sadly at the pair the dirty horse was being pet by a greasy haired man who was wearing only a robe, his feet bare in the dirt of the courtyard. The dog put it's paws on the pony's front left leg. Cloud looked down at the white dog, {Go away little dog.}  
  
The dog didn't seem to hear her and Cloud tried many times to speak to the dog. But the dog did nothing almost as if she was deaf to the people.  
  
Numair looked at Cloud, "What's wrong girl she's only a little dog."  
  
Cloud shook her head confused, but turned back to the man and licked his tear soked face. 


	4. Chapther four

Numair had been home in his tower for two weeks, with only Cloud and Spots to keep him company. He did not use magic, never again he promised. After Cloud had arrived at the swoop Numair had decided to get away from the busy life of a mage. Everything he did reminded him of Daine. The focus on his wrist, "the one that malfunctioned," he thought bitterly. "Or am I the one that malfunctioned?" All he knew was that the focus never focused, it just jumped around the world never stopping long enough for Numair to find her, if she was alive.   
  
Even eating reminded him of her, so he no longer ate. The tall mage who had been so thin before was now a scary sight. Not that anyone visited. What was the point of living. Death would be better than this life of continuous agony and grief.  
  
Suicide was a very present thought in Numair's mind. But he knew that the black god and his Daine looked down upon those who committed suicide. The girl had always thought anyone could live no matter what problem one was faced with. "But she never knew how much the pain could be, " Numair thought as he walked along the beach near his tower. "Every day alone, only animals. No Daine..."  
  
Cloud saw the stork-man in sorrow. There was nothing she could do for him. Not a thing. {And I should snap out of this too.} her horse scence told her. But...  
  
And all of Tortall suffered. News travels fast in the animal world. Deer did nothing but mope and let hunters take them as did many animals that were hunted. Horses were no good to their masters. Darkmoon (Alanna's mount) ate little and would not follow commands. Wolves did nothing but sing the death song. And Brokefang, he knew she was gone and his pack suffered. Even Frostfur felt sorrow. The entire animal world was in mourning.  
  
The humans noticed this, Onua's ponies were less spirited this spring as she brought a new herd from Galla. Lindhall Reed saw it in the kings zoo: the animals never played or ate, they just laid there. Even Squire Kel in the palace saw it in the dog Jump and the sparrows.  
  
And then on the beach Numair saw the sorrow in another creature. A tiny dragon. "Kitten!" Numair exclaimed running to the dragon.  



	5. Chapter five

Skysong saw Numair and ran to him as he ran to her. She was so happy to see him. Daine had gone to look for him and never returned. She whistled in happiness as he picked her up in a tight hug.  
  
The dragon's scales were the deep dark black of mourning. She had not eaten for weeks and her body told the tale of that. Sadness was great in her eyes as she looked at the mage.  
  
She remembered the day she let Cloud out of her stall. The horse had been going crazy with worry and the humans were keeping her locked up. After the horse had run away Skysong had followed slowly. On her travels to the sea Skysong had looked everywhere she could to find the girl but it seemed the girl was dead. And if the girl was dead, {my mother,} Skysong thought, the little dragon would be an orphan.  
  
She had felt lost and alone for so long she could not remember how long. Then almost by accident Skysong ended up a Buzzard Rocks. That means that she was near Numair's tower. Then the dragon had relized she was not and orphan she had a father, Daine's lover.   
  
So now she was with Numair and she could see how torn he was the poor man was thin and disheveled. His hair in ruins, greasy and some grays showing. He wore all black and the dragon saw it was all in commoner clothing. No silk or rings, he was just Numair. Yet not really, the Numair she had know would not have been in such a state. But, she reasoned he probably missed Daine.  
  
* * * *  
  
A week later, Skysong was still black, and Numair had a feeling that she would always be black for the rest of her time on earth. They were sitting in his chair when there was a big bang on his door.   



	6. A tale of two endings

I could not decide on an ending so I made two. In the first one the knock on the door never happened.  
*****************************************************************************  
#1  
Numair lay in his bed an old gray man in need of help from any of the healers who came to take care of him. Aged and lonely he was living in the palace.   
  
He thought about the past fifty years. Other than the disturbances of the animals in mourning for the first two-three years Daine was missing and the ten year war with Scanra that followed that, the realm had been in peaceAnd the mage had seen his friends age and some die. . During the ten year war the little dog Reba had died in an attack on the swoop. Onua had gotten married a decade after Daine's disappearance she had been happy till the black god took. Alanna was an old widow living at the swoop till the end of her days. Jonathan was still king yet only in name after his wife had died he could no longer run the kingdom. His eldest son ruled the way Jonathan had ruled for his father.  
  
This day Jonathan, shaky and gray with his own troop of healers, came to see the black robed mage and the fifty year old dragon who was finally learning to fly.  
  
Skysong was still black in mourning for her mother and friend. Her scales no longer changed color at her will she would be forever black till the end of time.  
  
Numair had never changed either. Always in mourning, and always a dark cloud over his soul. True to his word he never used magic, even during the ten year war when Jon had DEMANDED it. Numair had refused and in anger Jon locked him in one of the castles dungeons. Though Numair escaped with the help of Skysong and disappeared himself for fifteen years.  
  
When he had returned to the palace he had tried to see the king. Jonathan had refused to see him. And to this day they had not spoken to each other. Now near their end Jon decided that he had been wrong to be angry at the poor mage.  
  
He went to Numair's side, the man on the bed looked at him with tired eyes. Jonathan could see that Numair's life-force was slowly slipping away. "I'm so sorry Numair. I am truly sorry for you. Can you ever forgive me for being so cruel while you were in pain?"  
  
The only thing the mage said as the king held his had was, "Daine."   
  
And with that last word, in the king's arms, he died. And the king saw that for the first time in fifty years the mage was a peace.  
  
#2  
Numair went to the door and opened it. And there to his surprise was the badger god. His fur was so puffed out that he looked a lot like a puffer fish when threatened.  
  
"Can I help you?" Numair asked his voice thick with sadness. Seeing the badger reminded him of Daine…  
  
{You are an idiot!} Snarled the Badger trying to get a scratch at Numair's leg. The man stepped back in time so that only his breeches were torn. "You were holding her and did not even know it!"   
  
"Holding who? Daine? She's—She's dead!"   
  
{No she's not! She is alive and well at pirates swoop! She's the little dog you fool!}  
  
"The little dog? You mean Reba. But they found her in the streets a stray. She's just a dog. I saw that myself!"   
  
{Go back! I will make sure that you know who she is!}  
  
There was a flash of silver light and the badger was gone.  
  
The dragon and the man stared at the spot where he had disappeared. And suddenly they leapt to the door and down the stairs where Numair got the Spots and Cloud ready for a ride.  
**  
A few hours later Numair was at pirate's swoop sweat soaked. George was sitting at the stable petting Reba. At the sight of the mage he stood up and went to him.  
  
"The dog!" Gasped Numair, "Reba, where is she?"  
  
"Right there," Said George confused as Numair ran to the dog and took her into the stall that Daine had used as a room whenever she had been at the swoop. He laid the dog on the cot and she licked his hand.  
  
"Daine, come on Daine come back," Numair was saying.   
  
"Alanna!" George bellowed, "Come down here Numair's mad!" He grabbed Numair as Alanna ran into the stable.   
  
"I have to get Daine back!" Numair wailed.  
  
"Stop it Numair! You're sick. You need help, more than we can give you."  
  
Numair let a stream of his fire go to the dog, and to Alanna's horror Reba began to change. Her body shifted and grew, the white hairs disappeared and Reba's flesh turned pink. Suddenly the dog was human, a young woman with smoky brown curls.  
  
"DAINE?" Alanna said stunned.  
  
George released his grip on Numair who instantly was at the girl's side. She looked at him confused. "I was looking for you. But where am I all I remember is being on the street."  
  
"Oh Magelet! How I missed you!" He wrapped his robe around her and they kissed passionately.   
  
  



End file.
